Lifting an object contained in a bag



Dec. 19, 1967 G VQGEL ET AL 3,358,857

I LIFTING AN OBJECT CONTAINED IN A BAG Filed May 5, 1966 5 Sheets-$heet l FIE-l A fizz/anions Ger/yard r1 Voyel Erma]; 11. Cards 111; Ilia/m fl Murpfg 57M 4 4 flhaffzgy Dec. 19, 1967 Filed May 3, 1966 G. J. VOGEL ET AL 3,358,857

LIFTING AN OBJECT CONTAINED IN A BAG 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 In m n iars el'fia/fa f Z/qgel ZZZ? 3%; z

L zwm Z1177 liiarfiey Dec. 19, 1967 G. J, vo ET AL 3,358,857

LIFTING AN OBJECT CONTAINED IN A BAG Filed May 5, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 N In mentors Ger/Yard j Z/qgel Erwin L. Carts will z'a/m fl Mar f United States Patent 3,358,857 LIFTING AN OBJECT CONTAINED IN A BAG Gerhard J. Vogel, Elmhurst, Erwin L. Carls, Glen Ellyn,

and William A. Murphy, Palos Heights, 11]., assrgnors to the United States of America as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Filed May 3, 1966, Ser. No. 547,313 4 Claims. (Cl. 21417) The invention described herein was made in the course of, or under, a contract wit-h the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

This invention relates to the removal of objects from a contaminated area. More specifically, the invention relates to the lifting of a contaminated object contained in a ba l t is known to process plutonium within a box by devices within the box operated by persons who reach the devices from outside the box through gloves that have their open ends sealed to ports in the box. When a given device, which may be quite heavy, is to be removed from the box for repair or replacement, the weight of the device may require that it be lifted out through the top of the box by a special lifting apparatus. Contamination of the device by the plutonium dictates the enclosing of the device when it leaves the box.

According to the present invention, the special lifting apparatus lifts the device out of the box in a protective bag by means of two internal and external hooks that are connected, respectively, to the device and the lifting apparatus as well as being fastened to one another without penetration or perforation of the bag. The hooks are fastened to one another at the closed imperforate upper end of the bag by clamps and retainers, and the lower open end of the bag is sealed to a top opening in the box. After the device is lifted out of the box, opposing portions of the bag between the bottom of the device and the lower end of the bag are brought together and sealed. Thereupon the bag is severed at the sealed portions so as to be divided into a long upper portion that completely encloses the device in a sea-led manner and in a short lower portion that closes the top opening in the box through which the device was lifted.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of the novel hook arrangement of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing apparatus employing the present hook arrangement in one position;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the apparatus of FIG. 3 in another position; and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the present hook arrangement as applied to a modified apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 1, a book is external to a closed end 11 of a bag 12, and a hook 13 is internal thereto. Each hook has a spring-urged retainer member 13a. Base members 14 and 15 are secured, as by welding, to the hooks 10 and 13, respectively, and clamp the closed end 11 of the bag 12. between them. The base members 14 and 15 are circular.

They are held against the closed end 11 of the bag 12 by means of a pair of clamps 16, each of which is gen erally semicircular and shaped in a U of which a base 17 is semicircular and cylindrical, an upper leg 18 is semiannular, a lower leg 19 is semiannular and of a smaller radial dimension than the upper leg. The open ends of the 3,358,857 Patented Dec. 19, 1967 from the base member 14. The base 17 of each clamp 16 is somewhat spaced from the base members 14 and 15 and the closed end 11 of the bag 12, because of the engage ment of the leg 18 with the shank of the external hook 10.

The clamps 16 are retained on thebase members 14 and 15 by a pair of threaded rods 20 and a pair of nuts 21. The rods 20 are secured as by welding to the base member 14 and extend radially outward therefrom in opposite directions freely through openings 22 in the bases 17 of the clamps 16. The nuts 21 have threaded engagement with the rods 20, one nut to a rod, and engage the outer sides of the bases 17 of the clamps 16.

It can be readily seen from the foregoing description that the hooks 10 and 13 are firmly secured to one another across the closed end 11 of the bag 12 without penetrating or perforating the same, so thata load can be lifted by them. FIGS.

3 and 4 show how the hooks 1'0 and 13 lift a load. A box 23 contains a device 24, which may be useful in processing plutonium within the box 23. The hooks 10 and 13 and the bag 12 are used in the removal of the device 24 from the box 23 for such purposes as repair or replacement. The bag 12, which maybe formed of vinyl or polyethylene, has an open end 25 sealed to a flange 26 attached to the box 23 at a top opening therein. The hook 13 engages a cable or chain 27 having its ends attached to the hook 13. The hook 10 is connected to a cable 28 which forms part of a lifting apparatus such as a hand hoist 29. The hoist is attached to a frame 30 having its ends attached to I-bearns 31 resting on an I-beam 32. When the bag 12 hangs into the box 23 as shown in FIG. 3, the hook 13 is attached to the cable or chain 27 on the device 24. Now the hand hoist 29 is operated to lift the device 24 to the position of FIG. 4 in which the device 24 and bag 12 are outside of and above the box 23 and the device is contained in the bag.

Thereupon, opposing portions 33 of the bag 12 below the device 24 and above the open end 25 of the bag are brought together and sealed to one another. Now the bag may be severed at the portions 33 so as to be divided into a long upper portion sealingly enclosing the device 24 and a short lower portion closing top opening of the box 23 at the flange 26. The device 24 will be completely enclosed and will be out of the box 23.

In the modification of FIG. 5, the bag 12 does not enter the box 23 as in FIG. 3 and is held open against the subatmospheric pressure in the boX 23 by a plurality of circular hoops 34 which are attached to the interior of the bag at regions spaced along its length. The device 24 is pulled up out of the box 23 into the bag 12 by a cable 35 operated from within the box. The cable 35 is connected at one end to a hook 36 engaging the cable or chain 27 on 12 to a pulley 37 carried lgook 13 and back downwardly through the bag into the It is also understood that the invention is not to be limited by the details given herein but that it may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a system wherein a lifting apparatus is located above a top opening in a box and is exterior to a bag having its open end sealed to the opening, and two hooks are located at the closed end of the bag external and internal thereto and act against one another through the closed end of the bag without penetration thereof and between the lifting apparatus and a contaminated device in the box for removing the device through the top opening therein;

the combination with the hooks and the closed end of the bag;

of a pair of base members for the hooks, one base member being attached to the said one hook and engaging the outside of the closed end of the bag, and other base member being attached to the said other hook and engaging the interior of the closed end of the bag opposite the said one base member, and

of clamping means located outside the bag and engaging the side of the said one base member away from the said other base member and pressing the closed end of the bag against the side of the said other base member away from the said other base member.

2. The combination specified in claim 1, the clamping means comprising a pair of U-shaped clamps having their open ends facing one another, one leg of each clamp engaging the side of the said one base member away from the said other base member, the other leg of each clamp pressing the closed end of the bag against the side of the said other base member away from the said one 'base member.

3. The combination specified in claim 2 and further comprising a pair of threaded rods and a pair of nuts, the rods being attached to the said one base member and extending in opposite directions therefrom freely through the bases of said clamps, one nut having threaded engagement with one rod and engaging the exterior of the base of the associated clamp so as to retain the same in cooperative relation With the base members, the other nut having threaded engagement with the other rod and engaging the exterior of the base of the associated clamp so as to retain the same in cooperative relation with the base members.

4. The combination specified in claim 3, the base members being circular, the bases of the U-shaped clamps being generally semicircular, the U in which each clamp is shaped having a semicircular and cylindrical base and semiannular legs, one leg of the U of each clamp engaging the shank of the hook external to the bag and being of a greater radial dimension than the other leg.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,195,943 7/1965 Taylor et al. 294-131 20 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A SYSTEM WHEREIN A LIFTING APPARATUS IS LOCATED ABOVE A TOP OPENING IN A BOX AND IS EXTERIOR TO A BAG HAVING ITS OPEN END SEALED TO THE OPENING, AND TWO HOOKS ARE LOCATED AT THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL THERETO AND ACT AGAINST ONE ANOTHER THROUGH THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG WITHOUT PENETRATION THEREOF AND BETWEEN THE LIFTING APPARATUS AND A CONTAMINATED DEVICE IN THE BOX FOR REMOVING THE DEVICE THROUGH THE TOP OPENING THEREIN; THE COMBINATION WITH THE HOOKS AND THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG; OF A PAIR OF BASE MEMBERS FOR THE HOOKS, ONE BASE MEMBER BEING ATTACHED TO THE SAID ONE HOOK AND ENGAGING THE OUTSIDE OF THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG, AND OTHER BASE MEMBER BEING ATTACHED TO THE SAID OTHER HOOK AND ENGAGING THE INTERIOR OF THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG OPPOSITE THE SAID ONE BASE MEMBER, AND OF CLAMPING MEANS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE BAG AND ENGAGING THE SIDE OF THE SAID ONE BASE MEMBER AWAY FROM THE SAID OTHER BASE MEMBER AND PRESSING THE CLOSED END OF THE BAG AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE SAID OTHER BASE MEMBER AWAY FROM THE SAID OTHER BASE MEMBER. 